Primal Quest TV coverage sucked
16 10 2006I don’t know what else to say. I was there, though you wouldn’t know it from watching. You also wouldn’t know that approximately 85 other teams raced either. I guess that is almost normal for these types of events though. What is really sad is that I don’t think the coverage really was able to communicate the difficulty of the course. The intense, brutal heat of the first two legs and all 4 canyons (did you even know there were four?) was not effectively shown. Most of the mountain section was skipped over, and the coverage of the ropes sections totally sucked. That ropes course was absolutely amazing and the TV helicopter was still getting shots of it when my team came through about 1.5 days after the leaders. So where was all that footage? In fact, none of the coverage of any ropes section really showcased how huge they were. There were no good perspective shots. Awful. Just awful.
Perhaps the video production could never be what I would hope for. Maybe film can’t even come close to capturing the real-life experience of being there. I think maybe the idea was to market it more as a race than as a reality show like some of the previous Eco-Challenges were made to be, but in doing so a lot of the real-life suffering, drama, and triumphs that are inevitably a part of any expedition race were lost. I think the public would have been more drawn into the race if more of it had been shown. And I promise there was a lot more going on out there than just what was shown of Team MPGear.
I think covering it either purely as a race or purely as a “reality show” would be equally disappointing. I think PQ tried to provide a little of both, but the end result was a bit lackluster. I’m probably a little biased, but I’ve heard from several others that also thought it was terrible.
It was an amazing race, but I guess no one but the participants and volunteers will ever know that.
Hey Charlie,
As another PQ racer I have to agree. The coverage featured Nike and Go Lite, and I wondered who really enjoyed reading that focus. My only response was something like, “No way- there were there that much earlier than us!”
I agree that they missed focusing on the harsh landscape, brutal heat, and the rest of us.
Even more frustrating was the fact that I had organized a party for the Saturday showing at our home, with AR friends, teammates, and our sponsor. But the ABC Sports coverage was not available on our direct TV. Who imagined it would be different from the CBS Sports coverage all week? So we watched bootlegged copies and told lies…
It’s impossible for me to describe the epic qualities of expedition racing. In 2004 we finished 2th, and the coverage was much more comprehensive. In 2006 Team Action-Learning.com finished 36th, and I’m still humbled by the thing.
On a different note for Raleigh area racers: There will be a series of short adventure races in the Charlotte area in 2007. For details go to http://www.action-learning.com/adventure. Benefit for the American Diabetes Association and the US National Whitewater Center. 3 events- a clinic also. Designed for rookies and veterans… come on by!!
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